Scott: Is Oklahoma open for business?

As Oklahomans prepare to vote June 26 on whether to legalize medical marijuana, it’s important to remind ourselves that Oklahoma is open for business as bolstered by elected officials and business organizations committed to providing friendly environments for business recruitment and retention; however, with the emerging medical marijuana industry, all considerations of fact and economic analysis have been disregarded in favor of outdated scare tactics and hysterical propaganda.

Over the past 15 years, 30 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana with varying degrees of actual implementation and product availability. In stark contrast to the picture painted by the opponents of State Question 788, the moral fabric of these communities has not unraveled, crime is not rampant, addiction rates are not soaring, and businesses are not saddled with an unmotivated, dopey workforce. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, with most of these states far outperforming Oklahoma according to nearly every economic indicator, health index, and quality-of-life statistic.

According to the Marijuana Business Factbook 2017 developed by Marijuana Business Daily, the U.S. cannabis industry is poised to inject nearly $70 billion on an annual basis into the American economy by 2021, an eye-popping figure that underscores the broader economic impact for towns and municipalities that accept legal marijuana businesses into their communities.

While these figures demonstrate the surging market for both medical and recreational marijuana, the proactive measures within SQ 788 allowing physicians to recommend medical marijuana for their patients on a case-by-case basis rather than a restrictive list of limited conditions, Oklahoma’s projections are potentially much more expansive than what’s been witnessed in other medical marijuana jurisdictions.

With President Trump indicating support for bipartisan legislation effectively exempting medical marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act for states with medical marijuana programs, the time is nigh to embrace this industry before we lose our spot in the marketplace and yet again fall behind the rest of the nation.

Beyond the economic implications, we urge support for SQ 788 to combat the scourge we are witnessing from opioid abuse. As recently noted by U.S. Tom Cole in this publication, 115 Americans die each day from an opiate overdose, which is one American every 13 minutes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oklahoma ranks sixth in the nation in opioid prescribing rates. This epidemic requires every tool in our arsenal to combat, especially ones with demonstrated efficacy.

A 2014 paper published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that states with medical marijuana laws had nearly 25 percent fewer deaths from opioid overdoses. Researchers from Rand Corp., supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, conducted the most detailed examination of medical marijuana and opioid deaths to date and found something few initially expected. The analysis showed an approximately 20-percent decline in opioid overdose deaths between 1999 and 2010 in states with legalized medical marijuana and functioning dispensaries.

SQ 788 is the best opportunity for Oklahoma to provide medical relief to hundreds of thousands of our friends and family members, combat the opioid crisis, and realize the tremendous economic benefits related to the medical cannabis industry.

The members of our association, all established Oklahoma businesspeople, medical professionals, attorneys, and agricultural specialists, strongly support SQ 788 and the tremendous economic and health benefits resulting from medical marijuana legalization. We encourage Oklahoma to embrace this potentially multibillion-dollar industry knocking on our door when we cannot boast other economic suitors of the same stature.

Bud Scott is an Oklahoma City-based attorney and executive director of New Health Solutions Oklahoma Inc., a trade association representing the medical cannabis industry in Oklahoma. Scott represents clients in the cannabis industry in several jurisdictions.